Utah Board of Regents important player in future of USU
Utah’s Board of Regents hired President Kermit L. Hall, submitted this year’s budget request, and set tuition for Utah State University.
David Buhler, the board’s associate commissioner, said it sets the policies that govern each of Utah’s 10 higher-education institutions.
“[The Board of Regents] is a group of 18 citizens appointed by the governor to oversee the public education system,” he said.
The board, which was formed in 1969, is responsible for creating the priority list sent to the Legislature, with respect to budgeting, university missions, student success and capital (facility) improvements.
Buhler pointed out Utah’s board is one of the few that strongly considers student input.
“We really involve our students in the governance,” he said.
One of the 18 voting regents is always a student.
Students serve for one year, as opposed to the six-year term for other regents.
This year’s student regent is Khay Douangdara, a student at the University of Utah.
Sara Sinclair, a board-member and resident of Logan, said all students are at the center of the regents’ focus.
“We’re open to [student input] anytime,” she said.
The Board of Regents will be on the USU campus Sept. 12 and 13 to consider and prioritize capital facilities projects, as well as hold budget hearings for the next school year. Most meetings are open to the public. An agenda can be found on the board’s Web site, www.utahsbr.edu.
Since the board will be at USU during the State of the University Address, President Hall said he invited its members to attend. This has never happened before. He hopes they will have a large audience to appreciate, he said.
Sinclair said her job as a regent has everything to do with communication, cooperation and collaberation.
She calls it “wonderfully challenging and very educational.”
“It’s a big job to provide a good education for students,” she said. “We are very concerned about the numerous challenges of higher education in Utah. We take our work very seriously.”
This year, two members of the State Board of Education, which conducts the affairs of elementary and secondary education, were put on the Board of Regents. They participate fully in its affairs, but do not vote. Likewise, two regents were put on the Board of Education.
Buhler said regents serve part-time and basically for free. They get between $60 and $90 a day when they are formally at work. That doesn’t include any outside work or thought on Board of Regents issues, he said.
A regent’s job is like tug-of-war, he said. The wrestle to provide access, quality and affordability for all students seeking higher education.
-amarie@cc.usu.edu